Moments of Discovery: Britten’s Peter Grimes

By Dave Carty

Few things in life provide such a unique and wonderful experience as discovering a piece of music that leaves you stunned and that you instantly fall in love with. Even more rewarding is when that discovery leads you onto a path of further discovery of more glorious music and art. For me one of the most crucial works of discovery was the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten.

Based on a section of the narrative poem “The Borough” by George Crabbe, the opera was first premiered on June 7, 1945, and in their original setting the interludes – “Dawn,” “Sunday Morning,” “Moonlight,” and “Storm” – are played between acts to set the mood for the next scene. There are more than four interludes in the opera, but Britten drew the most expressive of them for contrast and balance as a stand-alone work, changing the order in which they appear in the opera.

I was in my early twenties when I first heard the Interludes, and I was completely blown away by the music. Each movement striking and individual, each full of shimmering melodies painting tone pictures in Britten’s gorgeous orchestration, each building on the previous toward a climactic finale. I was stunned. So much so that when the thundering Storm ended, I thought “Wow! If the rest of the opera is anything like that it must be amazing – I have to hear it!”. I immediately sought out a recording of Peter Grimes and was fortunate to be able to bring home Britten’s own recording of his opera that he made for Decca in 1958.

Until I put that recording on the stereo my experience with opera was mainly excerpts, scenes from the films “Amadeus” or “Apocalypse Now,” or whatever Bugs Bunny had done to the great masters. Opera is certainly an acquired taste, one that I had been uncertain of, but I was further thrilled that I actually enjoyed the opera I heard. The story, the soloists, the chorus, and of course the orchestra all brought something so vividly to life that when I was done, I wanted to hear more!

I would encourage you to seek out the “Four Sea Interludes” if you aren’t familiar with the work and see if it connects with you or give Peter Grimes a listen – or find a work you don’t know and give it a try. I hope that you are truly fortunate and discover something that shows you a path you didn’t know existed and that it is wonderful.